Can we talk about early-mid70s West Coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (811 of them)
Yeah Beachwood Sparks seemed like they were blowin' up for a minute but now it seems like they kinda fell off. I'm not sure what explains the phenomenon. I think everything old that's any good is bound to experience this kind of comeback at some point, but I don't know why it's now for outlaw country, 70s singer/songwriter and lighter psych stuff.

Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 03:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh my, no-one's mentioned SPIRIT's 12 Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus yet. I reckon that's a must have... so many great moments, but I keep coming back to 'Nature's Way'. I think you'll definitely love that song given the other stuff on your list.

If we're going to be a bit free and easy with the 70s part of the question, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE's Volunteers came out on the very cusp of the new decade (November '69) and barring the hippy rhetoric, it sounds a lot like a 70s record. SKIP SPENCE'S Oar from a bit earlier definitely does not, but then again it doesn't really sound like a record from any specific era.

Maybe try and pick up the BYRDS (Untitled), just about their last really decent record. I guess it might be a bit of a sloppy package in sum total, and it's absolutely nowhere near as good as the *great* albums, but it's still got some of my favourite Byrds moments on it, mostly courtesy of Clarence White.

Given the general thrust of this thing, you'd probably like IAN MATTHEWS' Journeys From Gospel Oak too. Covers of Gene Clark and Tim Hardin in a very West Coast style. He was originally in Fairport Convention, then Matthews Southern Comfort before doing his solo thing of which Gospel Oak is the most solid effort. Think he moved out to California round about the time of that album too.

Anyone want to recommend me any specific HOT TUNA album?

NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 08:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Michael Nesmith's early '70s records with the First National Band deserve a mention. Very consistent body of work, though nothing's as catchy as his Monkees work.

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link

mom has Spirit and Hot Tuna records at home. to be stolen in a few weeks when i go down there.

i've been meaning to figure out which Jefferson Airplane record i wanted to get next (only have a really dirty copy of Surrealistic Pillow that my mom wrote boyfriends' names in pen on).

i've had that Skip Spence album for years and never thought it was all that amazing. i don't know if it's a "oh, he's crazy, so this makes the album more amazing" type thing [i've always felt the same way about Syd], but i'll pull out my copy and listen to it again.

JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 15:48 (nineteen years ago) link

JaX0n,

Try the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's first album. JaX0n, all the DJs at KXLU were totally into this stuff! That's why they're all in likeminded bands these days (aside from The Postal Service).

gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 15:53 (nineteen years ago) link

This is a good thread idea. I've wanted to start one on a similar theme but could never think of the right question.

Personally, my interest is in the west coast stuff 1974-77, when session musicians began to rule the studio and production values got super slick, rather than the early 70s Byrds/CSNY/Grateful Dead axis. Stuff like Joni Mitchell, Buckingham-Nicks, Jackson Browne and ... Al Stewart maybe? Steely Dan? The Eagles definitely.

But it's kind of difficult to pin down the sound/genre any more definitely than that. And I'm a bit loathe to try for fear of unfairly pigeonholing certain albums.

Jeff W (zebedee), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh yes, and I have the Manassas album, JaXoN, which is partly country or country-rock but is quite diverse, with latin inflections and even some moog.

Jeff W (zebedee), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 16:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Lindsay Buckingham has great technique and has a very minimalist touch with regard to rhythm and melody.

gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 16:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Jeff, I've started a bunch of other threads like this in the past few months. check these out.

Soft Rock Hits of the 70s - search
I found $41 on the ground today, so let's talk about Psychedelic Country!
Ricki Lee Jones c/d s/d
I luvs me some Lee Hazelwood. What else should I be listening to? (aka, the 60s & 70s country thread) (maybe a little less so...)

JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 17:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Check out this group Relatively Clean Rivers. Radioactive reissued a record a few months back. It is great mild psych that you'll dig if you dig the first C,S & N.

How about Spirit, The Family, and Kaleidescope?

However, I must voice my disagreement with the original post about the Band's Music From Big Pink sounding like the West Coast. Yes, they filmed The Last Waltz in SF, but they sound more like Virginia to Memphis, to me.

Justin Farrar (Justin Farrar), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 17:45 (nineteen years ago) link

This may be a good place to mention Starry Eyed and Laughing, an early 70's band from London (granted, east coast ;-), heavily influenced by the Byrds. Rickenbacker, harmonies, the works. Their two albums have been compiled on a 2-cd set that was released last year, That was now and this is then, at long last. I don't have this one (actually, I found out about this compilation two minutes ago) but I downloaded a vinyl rip of the first album off soulseek on impulse. Great find!

willem (willem), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 18:24 (nineteen years ago) link

apparently Beachwood Sparks are trying to get (it) back together for another album...some were in All Night Radio I think and that fizzled and they need something to do to keep their minds off substance abuse. Stay tuned

Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:18 (nineteen years ago) link

harry nilsson, nilsson sings newman and nilsson schmillson. the former is breathtakingly gorgeous pop, the latter a sweet smorgasbord of perfectly sung and produced popness and rockness.

colin blunstone, one year and ennismore. ok, he's not exactly from the west coast, but his first two solo albums could've been. zombines fans consider one year his peak, but ennismore features "i don't believe in miracles," one of my fave pop songs of the era.

and i'll second don's nomination of west-coast-in-spirit rosanne cash, especially for seven year ache and its amazing title track, even if it did come out a bit later (1981) than most of the stuff being talked about here.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 20:50 (nineteen years ago) link

zombines = zombies.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 20:51 (nineteen years ago) link

How is that book about LA? i forget the name but i wanna say it's taken from a doors song? i haven't read more than a magazine in a long, long time. is it a page turner?

JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 22:22 (nineteen years ago) link

oh, it's called Waiting For the Sun by Barney Hoskyns

JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 21 October 2004 01:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Come to think of it, Roseanne is *from* California. She told an interviewer that she and her mother and sisters lived on the side of a mountain and Johnny would helicopter in between tours. Later they moved to town and lived in a house Johnny bought from Johnny Carson. Oh yeah, the Byrds: YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY, don't think anybody's mentioened that yet. Kaleidescope (not the British one though, the cali one had David Lindley, who played on a lotta big country-rock albums) were really good, kind of folk-rock, but also blues and Middle Eastern (like Turkish elements, for inst.) Speaking of Limdley he and Ry Cooder have a track on that new Zevon trib; so does Dylan, Springsteen, Billy Bob Thornton (?), Adam Sandler ("Werewolves of London"!). See bn.com.

Don, Thursday, 21 October 2004 04:15 (nineteen years ago) link

why is lindsay buckingham so revered. is it as a guitarist? songwriter? arranger?

personally, i find him to be one of the best guitarists to walk the face of the earth, equally for his skill as his non-showiness. some of his fingerpicking work blows my mind six ways from sunday. also he is hott, writes amazing songs, and his crazy production work never fails to impress my small brane.

the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Thursday, 21 October 2004 04:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, Buckingham has one crazy mind. JaXoN, Zevon's been mentioned here a couple of times, but you should definitely check out his self-titled album on Asylum. (Technically not his debut, but he considered it as such, having disowned the much earlier 'Wanted Dead or Alive.') One of the very best albums ever to come out of California, and to my mind the best thing the label ever put out. The reason I miss him most.

Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 21 October 2004 04:53 (nineteen years ago) link

How could we forgot the Crazy Horse albums (the ones w/o his Neilness)?

mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Thursday, 21 October 2004 07:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Carolaaay!

willem (willem), Thursday, 21 October 2004 07:13 (nineteen years ago) link

i love spences "oar." nail in the coffin of a whole sensibility at its best, pretty damned funny otherwise.

thomas jefferson kaye's "first grade" is this album on dunhill, about '73 i think. "american lovers" is a great song, written by becker and fagen. kaye wrote "one man band" covered by three dog night, and he does a version on this album, which is pretty obscure. xgau liked it a lot--that's where i learned about it. worth finding.

moby grape's "21 granite creek" and "truly fine citizen" are worth tracking down on LP; "truly fine" is not avail. on cd; "21" is only avail. on one of those lousy matthew katz san fran sound reissues. they're both somewhat underrated examples of this sound.

eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 21 October 2004 15:40 (nineteen years ago) link

> Waiting For the Sun by Barney Hoskyns

I found this book absolutely fascinating. Hoskyns sets himself up as something of an outsider to it all (no surprise that) but accumulated enough first-hand info that it reads in many places almost as an oral history. I was gripped by it, but my tastes don't sync well with most ILMers, so YMMV.

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 21 October 2004 20:07 (nineteen years ago) link

A great big second for Thomas Jefferson Kaye's "First Grade" and many thanks for reminding me of it! It goes on when I get home tonight. "American Lovers" is the great lost Steely Dan song; also, Dusty Springfield is all over the album doing back-up vocals. It was her big outing during her "help, I've fallen down in L.A. and can't get up" period. She was also on Bob Neuwirth's "Bob Neuwirth" album, another contender for the so-fucked-up-it-could-only-have-crawled-from-L.A. crown. Which brings us to an earlier question asked on this thread: Why Lindsey Buckingham? Because he's another master chronicler of the weird that is West Coast.

mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Thursday, 21 October 2004 22:19 (nineteen years ago) link

"That's How We Do It in L.A."

Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 22 October 2004 05:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Who are the Mellow Mafia? is that just the name for LA studio cats?

JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 22 October 2004 16:25 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...
Twin Engine, a long lost duo who only saw their album come out 30 years after it was recorded, are in this category, but have a more pop, almost bubblegum sound. nice.

timmy tannin (pompous), Saturday, 8 July 2006 20:23 (seventeen years ago) link

eight months pass...
At lunch this afternoon I found a cheap-o album by some group called the Quinaimes Band. It's on Elektra from 1971, and it's got Danny 'Kootch' Kortchmar playing some guitar. Seems to be zero information about it online, except some BOMP thread which says they're kinda half-remains of some garage rock group called the Myddle Class, who the Velvets supported at an early & wild high-school show. It was a quid. Anyone heard it??

Anyway, looks comfortably early-mid 70s W.C.P.P.P.R.F.F.C.R. from the cover...

gnarly sceptre, Thursday, 5 April 2007 14:30 (seventeen years ago) link

I haven't heard it. I poked around the internet and found out bill keith plays pedal steel on it, which is me totally excited. Keith is a backbone of the West Coast sound. Damn, Please report back with what you hear.

I'm no spinning New Riders' Powerglide LP. Awesome. American Beauty meets Merle meets Obscured by Clouds.

QuantumNoise, Thursday, 5 April 2007 14:42 (seventeen years ago) link

too many typos...

QuantumNoise, Thursday, 5 April 2007 14:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Two titles to "Search":

The City-Now Everything's Been Said

Carole King's California band from '68. Kind of a dress rehearsal for her more famous solo work, containing her versions of "Hi-De-Ho" and "I Wasn't Born To Follow" (which actually pales in comparison to the Byrds and especially Dusty Springfield's covers). Sadly OOP at the moment too.

Louie & The Lovers-Rise

Discovered and produced by Doug Sahm during his Frisco period, these guys were an all-Chicano band that came off as a Byrds-CCR hybrid. Their one surviving LP is chock full of great songs with loads of lovely harmonies. The reish on Acadia adds a stray single and features thorough liner notes from Ed Ward.

C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 5 April 2007 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Actually, just checking out some of the other people on this Quinaimes record....

Two Fugs and vocals buy a guy called Dave Palmer, aka the Steely Dan vocalist from Can't Buy a Thrill! Didn't really know anything else about the guy until now. Sez here he was in an unappreciated group called Wha-Koo. One to ask my Dad about, I reckon...

gnarly sceptre, Thursday, 5 April 2007 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link

BTW, what do you guys think about Emitt Rhodes? I've got two of his solo albums (the self-titled one and Mirror) on vinyl awhile back, but don't remember listening to them.

C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 5 April 2007 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Rhodes is a definite talent, a true pop songwriter. But I can only take him in small doses. After a while, his songs start to sound alike to these ears. I feel the same about Merry-Go-Round. After taking in that seemingly exhaustive compilation, I think I only need about half those tracks to get the MGR experience.

I've been digging the Rising Sons comp as of late. Wow. Taj Mahal. Ry Cooder. These dudes totally nailed some kind of Don Covay, Moby Grape, Dead hybrid, except they were three years ahead of schedule.

QuantumNoise, Thursday, 5 April 2007 15:46 (seventeen years ago) link

"Anyone heard it??"

i never thought it was that great. er, the first quinaimes band album. but what do i know? i like emmitt rhodes though!

scott seward, Thursday, 5 April 2007 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

I was gonna look for a 'California rock' thread yesterday and this pops up! While placed on hold I heard Nicolette Larson's "Lotta Love" for probably the 1,000,000th time and it just clicked all of a sudden, great song, and I LOVE this sound(i've worn out Suzi Quatro's "Stumblin In" for a few years now). Or is this too soft for the thread? ILM has barely mentioned her, I'm looking for her first album in any case.

tremendoid, Thursday, 5 April 2007 16:20 (seventeen years ago) link

I've heard for the first time this week and getting all mellow with the Linda Perhacs' record Parallelograms - seek this out for Cali mellow pop psych - fo sur'

BlackIronPrison, Thursday, 5 April 2007 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

what's the deal with this?! http://www.lindaperhacs.com/pages/press.html

Bizarre but true, this is Linda Perhacs's story. And it's a story that keeps getting better. She's writing again and finding "floods of new material" coming forth. There's a new album to come later this year, 35 years after her first, Parallelograms, and among the contributors will be Devendra Banhart, one of the much-celebrated young alternative folkies who claim Perhacs as inspiration and have been singing her praises in interviews for several years.

jaxon, Thursday, 5 April 2007 20:47 (seventeen years ago) link

WHEN IS EVERYONE GONNA GET ON THE GODDAMN POCO BANDWAGON WITH ME!!!??? JEEZUS, *A GOOD FEELIN' TO KNOW* FRIGGIN' PWNZ HALF THE SHIT MENTIONED ON THIS THREAD. okay, i'll stop shouting.

scott seward, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:34 (seventeen years ago) link

the best group on this thread is SPIRIT, whose best album is FEEDBACK.

linda perhacs is OK, but carole king / joni mitchell are better!!!

moonship journey to baja, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:36 (seventeen years ago) link

among the contributors will be Devendra Banhart, one of the much-celebrated young alternative folkies who claim Perhacs as inspiration and have been singing her praises in interviews for several years.


Perhacs nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

admrl, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:36 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm so fucking down with Poco, especially after I recently heard the first record blasted over a club PA. In fact the first three or four have some really great tunes. but you know what i like even better? the first two pure prairie league records. yes, they're from ohio. but man, that's some great country-rock.

QuantumNoise, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:38 (seventeen years ago) link

ILM IS ALL LIKE HMMMM I RILLY LIKE NEIL YOUNG AND I RILLY LIKE COUNTRY ROCK HMMM WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO??? POCO MOTHERFUCKER POCO!!!

scott seward, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:39 (seventeen years ago) link

quantum noise is on the chuckwagon. good to hear. YER EITHER ON THE CHUCKWAGON OR YER OFF OF IT!

scott seward, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:39 (seventeen years ago) link

poco-wise, i can vouch for everything up to and including crazy eyes:


# 1969 Pickin' Up the Pieces
# 1970 Poco
# 1971 Deliverin'
# 1971 From The Inside
# 1972 A Good Feelin’ To Know
# 1973 Crazy Eyes

scott seward, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:47 (seventeen years ago) link

but Almost Famous made me think I would hate them

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:48 (seventeen years ago) link

next mix i post on ilm i'll do a countryrock/stonedcowboy/countryfolkrockpop mix.

scott seward, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:48 (seventeen years ago) link

ooooh bring it

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:50 (seventeen years ago) link

yes, a mix!

i've picked up some gems recently:

charley d and mile LP (i learned about it on one of ilm's country-rock/west coast threads): country jangle, with red rhodes on pedal steel.

also, the first three, four, five (i can't remember) nitty gritty dirt albums are pretty damn good, especially the one with "mr. bojangles." their version of buddy holly's "rave on" is like west coast, country-glam. great guitar sound.

muleskinner CD: holy crap. it's like the amped-up, stoner-future bluegrass SHOULD have had back in the early 70s. furious playing. massive production. clarence white picking. sweet.

QuantumNoise, Thursday, 5 April 2007 23:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band are so unbelievably great

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 5 April 2007 23:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Earp---missed this Rhino press release, from a year ago:


Artist Name
Michael Nesmith
Release Date
Fri, 04/14/2017

MICHAEL NESMITH'S MUSICAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTED ON
INFINITE TUESDAY: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RIFFS

Rhino Serves Up The Audio Companion To Nesmith's Autobiography With
14 Of His Best Songs With The Monkees, The First National Band, And Solo

CD And Digital Versions Available On April 14

LOS ANGELES - Michael Nesmith tells the story of his eclectic life in his upcoming book, Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff (Crown Archetype). In it, the artist retraces his journey from his childhood in Dallas - where his single mother Bette invented Liquid Paper - to the set of "The Monkees" in Los Angeles, as well as his pioneering work in music video and virtual reality.

Before the book arrives on April 18, Rhino will release an audio companion that showcases 14 of Nez's best from his days with The Monkees, The First National Band, and solo. INFINITE TUESDAY: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RIFFS will be available April 14 on CD ($14.98) and digitally.

The set flows in mostly chronological order, beginning in 1965 when Nesmith recorded "The New Recruit" using the pseudonym Michael Blessing. Monkee-mania took over a year later and he spent the next four years making history and music with the quartet. Two songs by the Monkees included here neatly bookend Nesmith's tenure in the group, with "Papa Gene's Blues" from the band's 1966 self-titled debut, and "Listen To The Band" from The Monkees Present (1970), Nesmith's last album with group for more than 20 years.

The collection focuses mainly on the numerous solo albums that Nesmith recorded during the Seventies. He started in 1970 with Magnetic South and Loose Salute, country-rock albums that featured Nesmith and The First National Band, a group he collaborated with for several years. INFINITE TUESDAY features a song from each album: "Silver Moon" from Loose Salute and "Joanne" from Magnetic South, Nesmith's first Top 40 hit as a solo artist.

Nesmith embraced a multimedia approach to making music in 1975 to create The Prison, an album that was to be played as the "soundtrack" to a novella that came with the music. Represented on this set by "Opening Theme - Life, The Unsuspecting Captive," that album was also the first released on Nesmith's record label, Pacific Arts.

Then in 1979 Nesmith created "PopClips," the first-ever music-video program, which aired years before the dawn of MTV. That same year, Nesmith also recorded Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma, which featured "Cruisin'" and "Light," which also appear on this set. Nesmith made videos for those songs and others and released them in 1981 as Elephant Parts. A mix of comedy sketches and music videos, this "video album" won the very first Grammy Award for Music Video.

INFINITE TUESDAY ends with a pair of tracks from albums released after Nesmith returned from an extended recording hiatus: "Laugh Kills Lonesome" from ...Tropical Campfires... (1992), and "Rays," the title song from his 2005 album.

INFINITE TUESDAY: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RIFFS
Track Listing

1. "The New Recruit" - Michael Blessing
2. "Papa Gene's Blues" - The Monkees
3. "Different Drum"
4. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" - First Recorded Version/Stereo Remix
5. "Listen To The Band" - Single Version
6. "Joanne"
7. "Silver Moon"
8. "Some Of Shelly's Blues"
9. "Opening Theme - Life, The Unsuspecting Captive"
10. "Rio"
11. "Cruisin'"
12. "Light"
13. "Laugh Kills Lonesome"
14. "Rays"

dow, Friday, 9 March 2018 03:07 (six years ago) link

three years pass...

Rusty Young RIP---didn't get the memo on this 2017 solo debut, any of yall heard it?

LOS ANGELES, July 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist and front man of the seminal West Coast country-rock band Poco Rusty Young will release his debut solo album for Blue Élan Records, Waitin' For The Sun, on September 15. The album comes after a five-decade career which began in 1967 when Young was invited to play steel guitar on what would become the final album by Buffalo Springfield. Soon after – along with Richie Furay, George Grantham, and Jim Messina – he would form beloved Americana band Poco. Over the next five decades – and alongside bandmates that would also include Paul Cotton, Randy Meisner, and Timothy B. Schmidt – he became not only the musical core of the band, but also the writer and vocalist behind hits including "Rose of Cimarron" and the #1 smash "Crazy Love."

...Produced by Rusty and longtime Poco bassist/vocalist Jack Sundrud – with assistance from the legendary Bill Halverson (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris) – and mixed/mastered by Joe Hardy (ZZ Top, Steve Earle, The Replacements), the album's 10 songs first came together in the hours just before dawn. "I live in a cabin that overlooks the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri, and got in the habit of waking early to watch the sun come up," Rusty explains. "Just sitting there with my guitar, loving where I live and thinking about how far I've come and how lucky I've been. After a while, the songs just poured out of me."

The album was recorded at Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the former home recording studio of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. "June's old piano is all over the record," Rusty enthuses, "and I got to play Johnny's '57 Les Paul." Rusty also played steel and acoustic guitars, dobro, mandolin and banjo, with the current configuration of Poco – Sundrud, keyboardist Michael Webb, and former Flying Burrito Brothers drummer Rick Lonow – filling in the rest.

...Waitin' For The Sun opens with the shimmering title track that captures those early morning moments of inspiration. The vintage bounce of "Honey Bee" – featuring guests Jim Messina and George Grantham – pays tribute to the musical gifts of Rusty's grandparents. "Heaven Tonight" is lovely Beatles-esque balladry, "Innocent Moon" soars on gorgeous harmonies, and "Down Home" is fueled by Rusty's mountain music mastery. "Sarah's Song" is the heartbreakingly beautiful ode Rusty's wrote for his only daughter's wedding day, and "Gonna Let The Rain" is a potent dose of rock & soul. The driving guitars of "Hey There" are reminiscent of Poco at their very best, while the haunting instrumental "Seasons" showcases Rusty's distinctively melodic steel guitar. But the album's most talked-about track may be the warm and joyful "My Friend," featuring Richie Furay and Timothy B. Schmidt. "I could have done that thing where I asked everyone I've ever known to play on the record," Rusty says. "But I only wanted to work with a select few who were important to me. "My Friend" is about Poco over the years and the friendship we share to this day. That's why I called Richie and Timothy; the song is about them."

Today, Rusty is looking forward to touring in support of this new disc as well as planning a series of special concerts to celebrate Poco's 50th anniversary...
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pocos-rusty-young-to-release-debut-solo-album-waitin-for-the-sun---an-album-50-years-in-the-making-300488543.html

dow, Sunday, 18 April 2021 17:27 (two years ago) link

interview from a little later---this part is re the songwriters having left Poco:
I tried to be a full-rounded musician who played a lot of different instruments and did and did it well. Then it came to be that I needed to be a songwriter in the late seventies, 1978, and I did pretty good by that because I have over a million and a half downloads on Spotify and was #1 for six weeks so I’ve been pretty successful at this music thing (laughs).

Did it kind of shock you that one of your early attempts at a song did so well?

Yes! In 1978 when “Crazy Love” hit and went to #1, it was really, really great because the band Poco that I’d been in for ten years had never had a Top 20 hit and never sold a million records. And one of my first efforts at songwriting turned out to be such a huge hit and it was really great, you know. What can you say (laughs). And I still hear it at Home Depot and those places. It’s really high on the Home Depot chart (laughs).
https://glidemagazine.com/207387/rusty-young-still-has-stories-to-tell-interview/

dow, Sunday, 18 April 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link

there was an interesting article in the new ugly things about a 1970 release called "yellow hand," a band organized around a 17-year-old guitarist who -- via some odd connections -- wound up with a box full of half-finished buffalo springfield demos. the guitarist finished them, and at the time of its release the album had six previously-unheard neil young and stephen stills compositions. i think one of the stills songs has yet to be released in any other form.

sadly the whereabouts of the demo cassettes are unknown.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/yellow-hand-mw0000786959

Thus Sang Freud, Sunday, 18 April 2021 17:58 (two years ago) link

Yeah, I reposted about them way upthread, from Rolling Country 2008:

Just got through my first listen to reissue of Yellow Hand's s/t from 1970.They do a bunch of Stills and Young songs from a Buffalo Springfield album that never did come out, it sez here (so they're on the bootleg of Stampede?) I think Neil did release a later version of "Down To The Wire." That's the one where the four-part close harmonies kinda crowd me, plus they sound particularly in there between the Grassroots and Three Dog Night, just this combination of by-the-numbers and overemphasis. But, if you've got any tolerance for Stills early solo and Manassas stuff, this is mostly like that (still chunky harmonies, but with a touch of plaintiveness/querulousness to balance the manliness, and allowing the lyrics to come through just enough, so personality simulated, but dumb complaints and inspiration not heard too clearly)(also get Neil's sufficiently stylish, punky bitchy folk-rock putdowns on "Sell Out)." And Delaney Bramlett/Mac Davis "God Knows I Love You," which coulda maybe shoulda been a hit for somebody. Also, the lead singer, Jerry Tawney, steps up front on some okay self-writs, and "My World Needs You" would be good for Gary Puckett. (After our recent exchange, I saw G.P. in an ad for Biloxi's Hard Rock Casino, with David Allan Coe and Stevie Nicks! All on different nights, dang it). Yellow Hand's drummer keeps rushing and then almost stumbling over the beat, and mostly they do seem more singers than players, but overall seems okay.

dow, Sunday, 18 April 2021 18:23 (two years ago) link

one month passes...

Michael Nesmith---Different Drum--The Lost RCA Victor Recordings

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71ecD0cqAcL._SL1200_.jpg

Now, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are proud to present a major deep dive into the Nez archives. Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings features 22 tracks drawn from the RCA Victor vaults, every one of which is previously unreleased in any physical format. Over six RCA albums released between 1970 and 1973, Nesmith blossomed as a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and producer under the aegis of RCA Nashville legends Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis.
With bandmates including legendary pedal steel guitarist O.J. 'Red' Rhodes, John Ware, and John London, Nesmith pioneered country-rock with a spiritual and searching style all his own.

Different Drum premieres on CD some of his most remarkable musical explorations from this vivid period including cosmic reimaginings of Monkees-era favorites like 'Tapioca Tundra,' 'Magnolia Simms,' 'Circle Sky,' and 'Listen to the Band;' unheard outtakes like 'American Airman' and 'Six Days on the Road;' vastly different alternate takes of 'Different Drum,' 'Dedicated Friend,' and 'Tengo Amore;' and even an early version of 'Marie's Theme' from his cult classic multimedia project The Prison.
The mind-altering music on Different Drum has been mixed from the original multitracks by Andrew Sandoval and mastered by Vic Anesini at Sony's Battery Studios, while Papa Nez himself has contributed insightful new commentary to the liner notes by The Second Disc's Joe Marchese. Rare photos by renowned photographer Henry Diltz and previously unseen images round out this landmark package. Different Drum is a freewheeling, widescreen journey through the world of one of rock's greatest iconoclasts. Don't take our word for it: listen to the band!
1. Different Drum (Alternate Version)
2. American Airman
3. Bye, Bye, Bye (Alternate Version)
4. Dedicated Friend (Alternate Version)
5. Tengo Amore (Alternate Instrumental)
6. Texas Morning (Alternate Take)
7. Rene (Uncut Version)
8. Six Days on the Road
9. Circle Sky
10. Listen to the Band (Alternate Version)
11. Some of Shelly’s Blues (Alternate Version)
12. Keep On (Alternate Version)
13. Roll with the Flow (Alternate Version)
14. Marie’s Theme (Alternate Version)
15. Magnolia Simms (Alternate Version)
16. Born to Love You (Instrumental)
17. Hollywood (Alternate Backing Track)
18. Tapioca Tundra (Instrumental)
19. Roses Are Blooming – Come Back to Me Darling (Instrumental)
20. Tan My Hide (Instrumental)
21. You Are My One (Alternate Instrumental)
22. Loose Salute (Radio Spots)

dow, Monday, 24 May 2021 22:26 (two years ago) link

Maybe some of those Alternates weren't first choices for good reason---? Real Gone usually does a real good job though, looking fwd to getting their curation of Dusty Springfield's he Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971 to-morrow.

dow, Monday, 24 May 2021 22:32 (two years ago) link

Oh yeah, way upthread I mentioned that Byron Berline and Country Gazette got hired to fill out the Burritos, then the previous members left, and BB's boys *were* the Burritos, for touring and maybe other already-contracted purposes---also, they got to play with Ronstadt some, after she came off the early tour w Neil Young---complaining here, or on whicever taped performance I have (which is very good), about tour audiences more into partying, so she's really into kicking back with the deep holler sounds, in a much more attentive setting. Haven't tried all these links, but it gives you the annotations and pix at least, once you scroll past the Trio bit:
https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country"> https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country

dow, Monday, 24 May 2021 22:47 (two years ago) link

This thread starts with or near a mention of Gene Clark, who made at least one album with Carla Olson, so here might be the best place to mention her reissues/prev. unreleased tracks of hers, and a Clark live set, as I did on Rolling Country 2008:
Speaking of bar bands, or pub rock, that live Carla Olson & The Textones album is pretty decent Words matter to her,and social life as fun & danger-they do the song Dylan gave her, "Clean-Cut Kid"("They took a clean-cut kid made a killer outta him") and some other good covers and originals, but never get too preachy or melodramatic (even the sax is okay, despite being very 80s; never gets or takes too much airspace). Oh yeah, and the drummer is Phil Seymour of the Dwight Twilly Band; he even sings lead on a couple tunes, way better than his solo hit,"Can't Let You Go," which he doesn't reprise here, thankfully.It's no masterpiece, but pretty good. Now I should listen to the double-disc collection of her work with Mick Taylor (did they play with Dylan at the same time? Any legit tracks of that, if so) Wonder how her albums with Gene Clark are, I've got those reissues too, somewhere (Clark's Silverado Live, which came about around the same time as the live album and the Taylor collab collection, is pretty decent West Coast country rock etc, pretty spare musically, tho couple of songs have some kind of purple rants in their baggy pants)(also a couple of co-writes with founding Flying Burrito/Eagle Bernie Leadon, from when the Eagles were better).
the one I was talking about is credited to Carla Olson & The Textones, title is
Detroit '85 Live & Unreleased. The one I haven't listened to yet is Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Too Hot For Snakes Plus,
a two-CD set including their 1990 live set, which also sported Ian McLagan, Barry Goldberg and ("blues harp maestro")John Juke Logan. Second disc is selected from three Carla solo albums, all featuring Mick.
Pretty sure I did listen to all the rest of those, at some point--hopefully they're all streaming somewhere.

dow, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 00:39 (two years ago) link

Found the post, didn't look far enough on RC 2008---good albs:
I did listen to the Carla Olson & Mick Taylor twofer, Too Hot For Snakes Plus. She says in the notes she discovered Taylor from Mayall's albums, not the Stones, and that figures, in her taste for and skilled mining of the Albert Collins/Freddie King/Albert King/Buddy Guy-schooled blues-for-rockers-and-r&b-heads that Mayall and well-chosen employees like Taylor specialized in, in the early and mid-60s. ("For" rockers in that they allowed various Kings etc, and their sharper students to compete with and then enter the growing market of rock and r & b). It's flashy,but with attention to dynamics--one's own, and everybody else's--which goes with the rueful, restless, sometimes eloquent inventory of social tides: romance, friendship, crowds. Country compatible that way, especially since contemporary country draws so much on previous (but already ageing)decades of rock. And I could see Loretta Lynn and Jack White doing right by "You Can't Move In," for isntance. But it's more about the way the good and the bad are so connected: that's the blues of it, the country of it too, and Mick Taylor (and other well-chosen employees/comrades) coming up from under, against the tide/wind etc.(Could see 'em opening for Seger etc) "Tryin' To Hold On" builds creatively on a "Slip Away"-type framework (Carla's Detroit crew does a good cover of the actual "Slip Away"); "Rubies and Diamonds" does the same with the riffage and vibe of "It Takes A Lot To Laugh"(and/or Dylan's own sources for that). Other good co-writes, and covers of "Sway," "Silver Train," and Disc 2 starts with a an extended but thoughtful take on "Winter," yet (eventually)gets bogged down in what sounds like a too-solo-y edition of the Pretenders. But performed differently (anybody looking for covers?) most of these could work, and some of 'em work anyway, like "Reap The Whirlwind." No prob with "Friends In Baltimore," who ask willfully obtuse questions of a roving muso, until they finally don't even care enough for rhetorical queries (guitar twinges of the phantom connection: they're assholes, maybe they always were, but...)Also, on "Justice," she uses the words of Sterling A. Brown, who I gotta check more of, judging by this verse: "He spoke up at the commissary, and they gave him a date to be out of the county/He didn't go, so/They came for him/And he stayed in the county."

dow, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 23:48 (two years ago) link

seven months pass...

xpost Byron Berline RIP--also played on Stones' "Country Honk," still sweet. As mentioned upthread, he and Country Gazette got hired to fill out touring Burritos, then the previous members left and BB & CG were the Burritos, for contract purposes (there's a site, which I may have linked way upthread, that lists all permutations of the Flying Burritos up to whatever point---I once received a promo of the Walter Egan-led line-up: pretty good! Dognose who's been in there since, prob some post-quarantine regrouping being rethought now)
Once again, the links to Berline's crew a Ronstadt (sounds like it), also their own set:
If this is her show w Byron Berline and Country Gazette I heard (could have sworn it was a live broadcast from a studio), it's amazing---she mentions how much better this is than her tour (the early one w Neil Young, I think), where the audiences were more interested in tossing beach balls around. Digs deep into the olde roots and lets fire----scroll down for link to original post of whole show (variously labelled '72, '74, maybe others, on YouTube posts, as you can tell by their having the same setlists). Also see links to songs from a '75 set w Byron & CG, which poster says has better sound than the first show---haven't listened to much of it yet, but most of the links still work: https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country

― dow, Monday, October 18, 2021

dow, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 18:19 (two years ago) link

seven months pass...

Marmaduke's voice sounded like that of a defective Garcia clone, but think I can listen around him again, and this should be worth the effort:

New Riders of the Purple Sage’s Lyceum ‘72 was recorded on a 16-track machine by notable Grateful Dead engineers Betty Cantor, Janet Furman, Bob Matthews, Rosie McGee and Wizard–the team which also recorded the Grateful Dead’s EU ‘72 Performance. https://t.co/2LFrEsVVnK

— Omnivore Recordings (@OmnivoreRecords) August 8, 2022

dow, Tuesday, 9 August 2022 19:18 (one year ago) link

eight months pass...

https://www.7arecords.com/wp-content/uploads/7A053LP-scaled.jpg

Michael Nesmith – Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash

7A Records are proud to announce the 50th Anniversary Edition of Michael Nesmith’s “Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash” album. Released on CD & Vinyl on April 7, the album includes a bonus track, extensive liner notes and session details by Andrew Sandoval, as well as lyrics to all of the songs.

The Album

Nesmith’s time with the Monkees was well and truly in the rear-view mirror and he needed a new place to live and work. He caught the ear of Jac Holzman, head of Elektra Records, and a path forward miraculously appeared. Realising that most of the record companies at the time didn’t understand Country Rock, Nesmith convinced Holzman to start a new label, Countryside. Nesmith would run the label, put together a ‘house band’ and produce albums by various up and coming country artists. Unfortunately, most of the new label’s releases didn’t make much of an impression and Nesmith soon started to contemplate his own music again. Aided by the power of his Countryside house band, he quickly crafted Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash, a full and final RCA album. Despite its commercial sheen, Ranch Stash wasn’t a success sales-wise and it became the closing remark to a heavy chapter in Nesmith’s life, a final “adios” to Monkee Mike, to the cosmic cowboy, and to his family, as he moved further on up the trail.

Included on our 50th Anniversary Edition is the 1973 alternate version of “Marie’s Theme”. The Vinyl version is in a gatefold sleeve and printed on 180g grey vinyl and includes extensive liner notes and session info by Andrew Sandoval.

50th Anniversary Edition
• Includes Bonus Track
• Extensive Liner Notes
• Lyrics To All Songs


I might get the CD.
https://www.7arecords.com/product/michael-nesmith-pretty-much-your-standard-ranch-stash/

dow, Thursday, 27 April 2023 14:02 (eleven months ago) link

one month passes...

I finally listened to New Riders' xpost Lyceum '72 all the way through last night---72 minutes, I think---after a couple of interrupted but already mostly pleasurable attempts, and Marmaduke nowhere on here sounds like xpost defective Garcia clone, although he can sound Garcia-like, not quite pulling off some of the extended ballads of pathos like JG could, and there are a few too many of these in this set---but then he pushes against the bounds of the song, the bounds of discretion, as a cowtown survivor had better not do, in "Dirty Business," which goes on and builds for eight minutes, led by him and Buddy Cage, whose steel guitar is always a treat---whole band is ready for all the uptempo stuff too, "I Don't Need No Doctor," "Willie and the Hand Jive," "Hello Mary Lou"---though I wish that lead guitarist David Nelson had sung a few leads, considering his crisp vocals in the post-Marmaduke etc, line-up I heard*.

Anyroad, today Omnivore announced a flash sale on all three of their live NR sets:

Tuesday, June 20 through Thursday, June 22, Field Trip (CD / 2-LP), Thanksgiving In New York (2-CD / 3-LP), and Lyceum ’72 (CD) will be available for 50% off.
...Titles are limited to stock on hand, so there are no rain checks, but you can order as many copies as fit in your cart. Speaking of carts, please don’t add any preorders of new titles in there, as that will delay your order and you’ll miss out on the sale pricing.

So, Ride on and add some classic New Riders Of The Purple Sage to your collection.

Please note, the prices you'll see in the webstore will have the discount already applied to them.


sale link: https://omnivorerecordings.com/nrps/
Field Trip is at Venata, The Creamery, opening for the Dead, yknow the one with Flagpole Guy visuals, recorded to 16-track. Thanksgiving is 2-track.

*My preview when they played Columbus oh in '09:

New Riders of the Purple Sage
Jerry Garcia and singer/picker David Nelson’s pre-Dead country adventures morphed into New Riders Of The Purple Sage. Nelson, with Garcia’s steel guitar successor, Buddy Cage (survivor of Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks) reformed New Riders in 2005, recruiting Hot Tuna guitarist Michael Falzarano, plus two from self-stamped “swamp groove“ unit Stir Fry, bassist Ronnie Penque and drummer Johnny Markowski. NRPS roll deft jams and tight tunes, many recently written with Garcia collaborator Robert Hunter, who keeps Riders swirling around a “Barracuda Moon,” and curtly invokes the difference between a bad loan/And a debt.” Nelson’s subtly Dylanesque delivery underscores such lines with dry wit. Expect their aromatic hit, “Panama Red.”
07/27 @ Woodlands Tavern, 1200 W Third Ave. ,8 p.m
"Barracuda Moon" was on their 2009 Where I Come From.

dow, Tuesday, 20 June 2023 17:44 (nine months ago) link

Here's a playlist I made that's a replica of a 2006 Ace / Big Beat CD comp:

Country & West Coast: The Birth of Country Rock

some of the tracks weren't available, so i had to improvise, but it's 95% the same.

budo jeru, Tuesday, 20 June 2023 17:56 (nine months ago) link

Thanks!! Outlaws and Armadillos is another that could do with playlist tweak, not nec. re availability issues, but as xgau said, some of it is right artists, wrong tracks.

dow, Tuesday, 20 June 2023 18:47 (nine months ago) link

four months pass...

i haven't listened to this one in a long time. there is good stuff on it. sounds way better on vinyl. i mean, it would sound better than rando youtube upload. but if you see a cheap copy maybe pick it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf-W142qnsk

scott seward, Friday, 27 October 2023 13:46 (five months ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.